I have seen a bunch of post's about folks using clear coat on your decoys to protect the paint a little bit more. My question is basically if you done it did you see a difference in how long the factory paint lasted and what type of clear coat did you use.I have several dozen 1-3 year old GHG's that have varying amounts of chips and paint rubs. I also have 1 dozen newly rigged for this year, as well as 1 dozen dakota mallard floater i recently Purchased. I am thinking about clear coating the avery's, should i also clear coat the dakotas before i install the flocked heads?ok so it was actually a few questions, but any advice is welcome.

Krylon 1311 I believe it is. I cleared all my new deeks last year. The GHG HotBuys literaly still look new. And so do my butt ups. Now for the flamblows teals, they are horrible... but that's because of the crappy paint flamblow used. After looking at my GHG's I recommend using the clear coat.

Weedwacker , after seeing your post, I headed out to the garage, didn't have alcohol except for the beer in the fridge, but did find some mineral spirits. I tried it on the one decoy that I had applied the Matte finish to, it did dull the finish. It may have taken the clear off but that's OK at least the decoy looks good again.

cluckmeister wrote:Weedwacker , after seeing your post, I headed out to the garage, didn't have alcohol except for the beer in the fridge, but did find some mineral spirits. I tried it on the one decoy that I had applied the Matte finish to, it did dull the finish. It may have taken the clear off but that's OK at least the decoy looks good again.

Careful with the spirits!,!!!

That is paint remover, it will take color with it........

Wait and get some alcohol, non drinking kind

It's not just a duck boat, it is a tatical platform for opportunity- weedwacker 101

Preserve game and hunt with a trained dog- NAVHDA

"In looking back thru his posts over there he kind of thinks of himself as the zen of all things fowl."

I thought that perhaps the mineral spirits might take the paint off as well as the clear finish, so I used a white rag and used just enough to dull the clear, I didn't get any color off on the rag so I don't think I lost any of the original paint

Matte 1311 turned my beautiful painted deeks into flaky crap. Just sayin'. Looking for something different this year. The Krylon 1311 is a craft topcoat. If ur spending the hrs to paint ur deeks I would t use the 1311. Just my personal opinion of course. Beware 1312 does not provide waterproof or UV protection to your white will more than likely fade. If going with Krylon I suggest acrylic paint and not oil based. You'll thank me later ;)

A few points: Don't over spray them like you're painting something. Apply a light mist type layer. If you over spray I think they become shinny. Apply a couple layers. I've only used the FLAT or 1311. I've only done this on new decoys. I think it help protect the factory paint job and add an extra layer. I did this to my new Avian X mallards and it really helped.

I was kinda wanting a little shine on the green heads, but the 1311 kept em flat (saw that when I compared one I'd missed). I sprayed a pretty good mist over them, with 20 mins intervals. Higdons don't chip paint in the first place, but I felt like I was really doing something constructive. Going to spray a dozen (1 season old) G&H Gadwall today.